Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

302 UNLIMITED-AIRCRAFT TACTICS
many combat conditions, a single fighter may literally be pushing bugout
fuel state at takeoff.
Once committed to a bugout, the pilot must again assume a defensive
posture. Engagement should be avoided if possible. Only those bogeys in
the line of retreat should be engaged offensively, and then only if engaging
them does not put escape in jeopardy. The only difference between running
out of fuel and being shot down is that some hard-working enemy pilot is
denied a well-earned score.
Under most conditions the pilot of the single fighter should not consider
returning to the combat arena after committing to a withdrawal. Once he
is very close to friendly airspace, however, much of the uncertainty of fuel
requirements has diminished, and the singleton pilot may find that sufficient
fuel remains for an attack on a known, nearby bogey. Care must be
exercised in this case to ensure such an attack does not carry the fighter far
from friendly airspace or result in a defensive situation.
Another situation which may call for a return to the fray is when
another friendly pilot finds himself in a serious defensive position nearby.
If fuel is available, even one high-speed pass through the fight, and a shot of
opportunity if it becomes available, often can relieve enough pressure from
a hard-pressed defender to enable him to escape. Such assistance would, no
doubt, be appreciated, and would probably be worth a beer on return to the
pub.
It is a code of honour to help out any comrade who is in distress, and no
matter how serious the consequences may seem, there is only one thing to
do—dash straight in, and at least lend moral support to him.
Lt. Colonel W. A. "Billy" Bishop, RAF
Defensive One-versus-Many
In a hostile environment, the pilot of a single fighter should consider
himself to be defensive whenever he is not actively engaged in an offensive
attack. This ordinarily means that the singleton pilot spends the vast
majority of his time in a defensive posture, although, hopefully, not actively
defensive. The Chapter 5 discussion of defensive one-versus-two
techniques stressed the importance of keeping track of both opponents so
that one bogey can be engaged until the other becomes a threat. A switch
can then be performed and the process continued until an escape opportunity
is presented or until one bogey is destroyed. By definition, in the
one-versus-many scenario all the enemy fighters cannot be located or
tracked. It must always be assumed that additional bogeys could appear at
any moment from essentially any direction. This unknown element normally
precludes the prudent fighter pilot in a single aircraft from choosing
to engage any number of known bogeys in an extended dogfight. This does
not, of course, mean that the single fighter should not attempt to be
offensive; but such offense generally must be limited to surprise hit-andrun
attacks, as described in the previous section, if the single is to have
much chance of survival. For most fighter pilots survival is fairly high on
the list of priorities.